Rutledge and David Sterling, both Little Rock lawyers, will face off in a June 10 runoff for the Republican nomination for the office and the chance to face state Rep. Nate Steel, D-Nashville, and Libertarian Aaron Cash in the November general election. Nation, a North Little Rock lawyer, finished third in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

“She has her experience, I think she also has … the energy and the ability to win in November,” Nation said of Rutledge during a news conference in downtown Little Rock. “I think it’s important that we win, and I think she’s the right person for the job.”

Rutledge, who joined Nation at the news conference, said “I am honored today to have this lawyer standing beside me, and I am honored to call her a friend as we move forward on this campaign and head toward the June 10 runoff.”

Sterling said Friday that “the only endorsements I am concerned about are the ones from Arkansas voters on June 10.”

“I have the better chance to win in November, because I have 15 years of experience practicing law while Ms. Rutledge has only two years of law practice experience, and the rest of her experience has been either as a law clerk or a political operative — the last five years of which has been in Washington,” he said.

Wes Manus, a spokesman for Rutledge’s campaign, said she has been practicing law for 13 years and called the claim that she has only practiced law for two years “a lie.”

During those 13 years Rutledge has served as a judicial law clerk; a Lonoke County deputy prosecutor; counsel for Mike Huckabee when he was Arkansas governor and in his 2008 presidential bid; an attorney for the state Department of Human Services; deputy counsel for the National Republican Congressional Committee; counsel for the Republican National Committee; and, for the last year and a half, an attorney in private practice focusing on administrative law, state and local government, and election law.

Sterling, a former assistant city manager for Hope, specializes in business, commercial and contract law.

Rutledge received 47 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s primary, while Sterling received 39 percent and Nation 14 percent.